Legends of Runeterra: The Risening
by Xingaea
Summary: Blake has just been promoted to challenger, the most revered rank a summoner could have. Now he has to choose whether to work alone or with a champion to do the League's justice and promote the peace outside the Rift. But something strange is stirring, something dark and evil that will test the strength of both the League and the continent of Valoran. (My first story, have mercy)
1. His Journey Begins

A shady figure darted gracefully through the jungle, thickets of trees and bushes covering her on each side. She crouched and became extremely wary of her surroundings, not a single sound could escape her ears nor could the tiniest detail escape her gazing grey eyes. She wore a hood of brown that went down her slender legs, and wielded a bow made purely out of ice. Her face smooth and full of beauty; soft lips and eyes showed no signs of any emotion, but only the stone faced determination and focus of a well trained archer and efficacious leader.

It had been Forty minutes since their match had started, forty minutes of strenuous skirmishes and bloodletting from both forces. The match was just about to draw to a close, but with both side's inhibitors fully exposed it was more or less an even battle.

The Frost Archer crouched and made a steady move for the bushes, positioning herself in the best place possible to release her Enchanted Crystal Arrow. All she's waiting for is her team now; the tank would initiate and whilst everybody is busy quarrelling and trying kill each other she would take out the marksman first, their mage second, and then finish off the remaining opponents together with her team and thus ensure their victory. They were sure taking their time doing who knows what, the last time she saw Malphite was when he was bullying a pack of wolves a down river.

_'Get ready Blake' _ someone voiced inside her head . It was probably their tank telling her to get ready; the ward already revealed the enemy team to be approaching from the jungle where the Elder Lizard should be. The plan was to intercept them near Baron Nashor and once the battle was over with, continue to their inhibitors and take the game.

_'Yeah I'm ready'_ replied her Summoner.

For what seemed like an eternity, there was nothing but silence in the Summoner's Rift, looking at it you could almost feel like this place wasn't being used to settle some political dispute or another between two states, usually some quarrel over who gets this and who's right about that. But here, right now, you could just smell the flowers and trees overflowing with magical energy, you could see the animals living peacefully in their homes within the rift, and you could almost forget that this was some arena where people fight for the future of the continent.

It wasn't the time to think about that though, because it was almost time for her to act, so the frost archer steadied her bow and aimed it between two trees. Inhaling and exhaling as slowly as she possibly could, she concentrated on finding the faint footsteps that would show her where the enemy will be. The archer stayed unmoving, looking as cold as the ice from where she came from as she waited for the signal to fire the great arrow that was forming on her drawn bow. Anytime now the signal might be raised and the fight would start, though she could feel her Summoner wish that it would start a little bit sooner, it was clear to her that he was getting really impatient.

_'They sure are taking their merry time' _She heard his voice echo.

Annoyed at how he broke her concentration, she muttered in a low voice "A little patience wouldn't hurt Summoner, care to wait a few seconds?"

_'Hmph, fine'_

Sure enough a few seconds later she heard a loud voice echo in her head that screamed _'NOW!' _

She let her arrow loose in between the two trees, and it shot fast and cold crossing the lane at an immense speed. It took only three seconds before she saw the explosions of ice and heard the sounds of battle from the other side of the jungle. She could hear Malphite knocking the enemies into the air and feel the sudden gust of wind as Janna creates a powerful monsoon to throw her allies off balance.

With no time to waste, the frost archer, Ashe, darted through mid lane and went in to join her allies on the other side of the rift. Entering through the river, she could see the battle was going well for them, Jarvan IV was raging a fight with Malphite while Janna was hurling tornadoes futilely at Lux. Master Yi was clashing blades fiercely with Katarina, who blinked behind him in an attempt to confuse the Wuju master.

Ashe didn't even hesitate to go in and release volley after volley of frozen arrows against Ezreal, dealing as much damage as possible. Ezreal was just as quick as her though, and blinked behind the Jarvan and Malphite; out of harm's way from her last few shots.

_'Get him Blake!'_ screamed Ashe inside her head. A great flame shot from the heavens and ignited Ezreal, burning him until he went down and shattered into a million light shards.

_'Good job Summoner'_ the frost archer told him.

_'II's the least I could do, now, back to work'_

The battle was far from over; Warwick had just entered the heat of the battle and set his eyes on Ashe. The wolf howled in fury, tasting the kill and rushed for her on all fours, not even minding the ongoing battle happening around him. He slashed at her, but as swiftly as she could, jumped back and dodged the attack while shooting two arrows, hitting the wolf with a resounding thud. That did nothing but enrage him though, and soon he continued his pursuit. He slashed and bit and howled at the frost archer but did not even manage to land a scratch, unlike Ashe who had practically made the wolf into her own personal hedgehog.

Warwick continued the pursuit, slash after slash after slash missed her as she swiftly continued to rain arrows over the enraged beast. Her luck didn't last long though, because Warwick managed to maim the woman, sending her to her knees. The wolf howled in triumph just before he got a taste of her blood, raising his arms for the final blow before he would kill her.

_'Stand up Ashe, I got you' _Her Summoner echoed.

Just before the claw had landed upon her, a yellow barrier of energy absorbed the blow and blocked the wolf's hand. Standing up, the frost archer jumped back, and with a quick volley of arrows finished her enemy off. Warwick let off a final howl of anguish before he finally went down and shattered into shards of light.

That was it; the battle was won, though all that was left of her team was Lux, Blitzcrank and her, which was more than enough to finish the job. With Victory almost at hand, her team made steady pace for the opponent's base, as quickly as possible even though it would still be a long time before the enemy comes back and manages to defend their Nexus.

They didn't let their enemies have that second chance; they shattered the inhibitors and watched as the Enemy's nexus slowly breaks from their attacks. A few more shots and a deafening sound erupted from the nexus, which looked like it was imploding on itself, taking its surroundings and distorting the space, just before it blew up in a beautiful blend of crystals and shards.

"Congratulations Blake" Ashe calmly spoke to her Summoner.

_'I can't believe it, we actually won' _he replied.

The frost archer was curious about what they could possibly be fighting about this time, and it better be something serious. There was this time when a Noxia accused Demacia for stealing their idea for a new apparel of women and men's clothes, which is absolutely absurd. Why would you fight in the Rift about something stupid like clothes? Ashe thought that the League is getting absolutely overused ever since the peace treaty between the city-states. But she guessed that she had better be grateful that they could live like this, where there are only minor disputes ranging from clothes to 'who-gets-to-own-this-new-mine'. It seriously could be a lot worse; the last rune war took the ecosystem by storm and almost ended all life on the continent, which was the real reason why the League had been created, to prevent more rune wars from occurring.

"So, what are you fighting over this time?" Ashe couldn't sustain her curiosity; she wanted to know what they were fighting over this time around.

_'If you really want to know, it was a series match'_

"A what?"

_'Basically, my rank went up'_

"Oh, so what are you now?"

_'Well …. I just entered the challenger league'_ was Blake's only reply.


	2. The Council's Decision

The visions of the broken nexus receded, his connection with Ashe was gone and he was now once again at the Summoner platforms in the institute of war along with the four other Summoners. The Platform isn't anything special or intricate, much like the whole institute; it's basically a circular field with a domed roof supported by pillars. Two hallways stretch out on either side of the platform leading to other areas of the Institute of war.

One of the Summoners, stout and wearing the purple robe of his office, approached him and said "Not too shabby Blake, congratulations".

"Well, thanks, you weren't too bad as well" replied Blake as he let down his hood to reveal his face, which was quite odd if anybody were to describe it. His hair was dark, but had strands of silver clumped together in groups here and there; he also always had that mischievous smile in his lips like he's planning something behind your back. But those aren't his oddest features, his eyes are a shade of purple so dark that they seem to be black, and it's surrounded by a thick rim of dark silver just where the pupils end.

"Maybe we can hang out sometime" Blake added.

"That would be wonderful! I'll be looking forward to it"

And with that, the Summoner silently left the room, leaving Blake to think about what had just happened. It was definitely not a dream; he's going to be a challenger soon! He waited all his life, ever since he was five, in order to be a high ranking Summoner. He always idolized the Summoners for having so much magical power up their sleeves. He wanted that too, more than anything in the world, because he had grown up living in the institution all his life, living in a place surrounded by so much magic power and study of the arcane elements would only serve to heighten his inspiration.

_'I actually made it!'_ he thought to himself.

Having the rank of Challenger isn't just for show. Only a few Summoners ever get into this rank, because there's a lot more to Summoning than just mastering spells and being able to summon a champion, they also have to be able to work together with that champion and communicate with one another almost effortlessly. Only then can you achieve your full potential in the craft of summoning.

Summoners in challenger also have a different role to play outside of the League: they become harbingers of justice and promoters of peace. They also do the League's biddings whenever they're instructed to go on missions. There are only two types of Challengers outside the Institute of war, those that chose to work alone and those that have a Champion as their companion. Given the chance, Blake would rather choose to partner up with a champion rather than work alone, because from what he's heard, working alone is extremely hard for a Summoner, no matter how good you are.

"So, Blake has finally taken on the role of Challenger eh" said a woman behind him.

Turning around, he saw an old crone in her forties, dressed in the Black Robes that only the high councilors wore. The woman had a crooked nose and white hair that came down to her shoulders. She had these pale, sad eyes that looked like they've been through a lot, but those sad eyes were contrasted by her warm smile, which gave her a look that seems almost like she pities the young man. This was none other than Vessaria Kolminye, the high councilor who replaced Heywan Relivash, a previous high councilor who was accused of a scandal.

Blake smiled back and said "You must be really proud of me"

The old woman laughed out loud at the comment and replied "I knew you would make it this far, you've been training longer than any of the others after all"

"My whole life actually"

"Yes, yes" Vessaria said, remembering the past "I remember when you were just a kid back then when I was first appointed as a high councilor, what a spirited young lad you were"

"Not like that changed!" Vessaria retorted.

"Of course not, you're as cheerful as you've ever been" the councilor said with a sly smile on her face.

Turning around and heading into one of the hallways, Vessaria made a gesture for Blake to follow her. "Come now then, your promotion ceremony is about to take place" she said.

"So soon?" Blake asked astounded, usually the ceremonies happen a day after the Summoner was promoted, so it was quite odd that they had decided to start the ceremony right away.

"Not every day an Orphan of the Institute gets to be a Challenger" Was the councilor's only reply.

It was true, the Institute never took in Orphans, because they would be so busy teaching all their students the art of magic and everybody else would be so busy with their work that they wouldn't have enough time to care for a child. He was the only exception, Blake doesn't remember his parents, allhe was told was that he was found at the foot of the institute doors, and for some reason or the other, they decided to accept him. Since then he lived having Summoners for brothers, and the High councilors as his parents. They took care of him well enough; they even started teaching him the ways and arts of magic at the age of ten. No surprise then, that he became a summoner only at the age of sixteen and took only two years for him to become a Challenger.

They walked in silence continuously for a few minutes. Walking through endless pillared hallways that seemed to look the same as the last one they went through. They may all look the same but once you live in the institute for most of your life, you won't get confused by all its twists and turns. Blake has already been to every nook and cranny of the institute as far as he could tell, and he even managed to enter the councilor's meeting room once or twice. This would be the third time he'd be going in there, but at least he had a reason this time.

"We're here" Vessaria said.

The doors into the councilor's meeting room were one of the only things in the Institute that had any design on them: two huge doors where you could see images of Summoners working togeer with champions, all of them in different robes of purple and white. In the center of the door though, were three figures clad in black robes: the high councilors of Equity.

Vessaria slowly raised her right hand, and summoned a swirling orb of magic. The orb grew bigger as it drew away from her hand; you could almost feel the intense flow of magic as the orb hit the door without a sound and seemed to be absorbed right into the object, after that though, nothing much happened for a few seconds.

"Erm, was all that just for show?" Blake wondered.

"Always as impatient as ever, I see" replied the high councilor. "It would never hurt to try and wait a few moments Blake"

"I was just asking."

Sure enough, a moment later the huge doors opened themselves. Vessaria looked extremely displeased by this, "These doors are getting extremely old" she muttered under her breath. The doors don't seem to be that old, but Blake didn't have time to ponder on that because the old woman had already gone ahead.

The councilor's meeting room looked like something you'd see from a really vivid dream. Everywhere you look you could see magic running amok. There were orbs spiraling around, circling up to the top of the domed roof to do who knows what. In the center of the room, a huge ball of magical energy thrummed with power, showing parts of Valoran and its history: like the rune wars and a few battles from the Rift. At the other end of the room, there were three high chairs that looked like they were carved right out from the ground; all of them had intricate carvings and runes. Overall, you could almost smell magic coming alive in this very room itself.

The chair in the middle was where Vessaria would usually sit, to the left of that chair sat a man older than Vessaria was. His eyes looked like two small slits and his face gave the impression that his mind was always elsewhere. He was bald man, save for a few hairs on the side of his head, and he wore the black robes of his office. This man is none other than Kiersta Mandrake, who has been in the high council for as long as the league could remember.

Vessaria made a move for the chair at the center, noticing the one on the right was vacant. "He's not here today either I see." she said.

"No, he hasn't been seen by anybody since a few days ago" replied Kiersta.

Sitting down and relaxing herself on her high chair, the old Councilor let out a sigh of relief and said, "Alright then, let's get started". Vessaria pointed in front of the Magical ball of energy. "Blake, if you could just stand there, please"

"All right then" said Blake as he went in front of the ball.

Looking more closely, he noticed that there was a platform in front of the ball, detailed with various runes that symbolize a formula for transformation. This must be part of the ritual, though he still wonders why it takes a day for them to perform this ceremony.

"Let's start" Kiersta said.

"Do I have to say some oath or something?" Blake asked.

"No more than when you summon, now hush, child"

The runes on Blake's feet glowed with the intensity of the sun, outshining everything in the room. You could hear it hum with power as the runes circle around, over and over again. A pillar of light shone brightly all the way up and through the domed roof, covering Blake's body with a shimmering glow of magical power. It wasn't hot nor was it cold; in fact, it didn't feel like anything, he could only feel the rush of energy coursing through his veins as the magic transformed him somehow.

When the gush of power and the glowing lights finally faded, he looked just the same as he was before; the only difference was that his robes went from purple to white. He didn't feel any different; he didn't feel any stronger and certainly not any wiser or more knowledgeable.

"Is that all it does?" Blake asked with a disappointed look on his face. "Couldn't you have just … oh I don't know, tailored me a new outfit?" Blake said.

"The runes enchanted your robes, you can change your outfit to match whatever style you like, not here though, do it in your spare time." Vessaria replied.

"Oh … awesome" was all he could say.

"Anything else you would like to complain about Blake?" The high councilor mockingly teased him.

"Well … it usually takes a day before you guys start the ceremony …. And … If it's only if it's this quick, I don't understand why it takes a day to prepare."

Kiersta pondered for a moment then said "Well, usually we're really busy; you just became a Challenger at the right moment"

"That's it?" Blake wasn't buying it; it seemed too simple a reason, but he's not one to complain, he's been waiting for this day for a long time; of course he wouldn't let this chance pass by even if it was just one day.

"Would you prefer that we had delayed the ceremony by a day? It's not like you to wait that long, you've been waiting all your life, as I remember correctly" Vessaria said.

"Well …. Erm …. Fine" was the only thing Blake could reply back.

"On to business then." Kiersta waved his hand and made the ball of magic in the center of the room dissipate into the air. "Would you prefer to have a partner, or would you rather work alone?" he asked.

This was what he had been waiting for all his life, he now had the chance to finally go out of the Institute and do some real field-work. He's even already planned out who he might want to team up with, and it was a close tie between Darius or Garen, provided they hadn't teamed up with someone else yet.

"I'd like to team up with a champion" he finally replied.

"Well, to tell you the truth, your team has already been premade, if ever you planned to team up with someone." Vessaria said, with a tinge of pity.

"What, why would you do that!?" Blake replied angrily. It wasn't fair, why is he supposed to be the only one who gets a premade team? Everybody else got to pick their own partners, so why him? He's been in the institution for so long, but he never even stopped to think that he'd be a special case if ever he became a challenger.

"I assure you, there's nothing to complain about." Vessaria continued "She even volunteered herself to be your partner"

"She?"

"Yes, she's also only been recently promoted, so both of you should really be able to work with each other well, also, she's just the same age as you." The old Councilor said.

"Another summoner?" Blake was more confused if anything else. This was far from normal; Summoner's paired up only with champions, since two Summoners would not even equal two thirds of a champion's power. "Won't we be a weaker unit than the others then?" He continued.

"Not necessarily" said Kiersta. "You'll be the first three-man challenger cell, compromising of two Summoners and a champion."

"Let me guess, the champion was preselected as well?" Blake asked, though he already guessed what the answer was.

"Well …. Yes" was the old man's only reply.

Blake let out a silent sigh, this was more than a disappointment to him. He was planning on some awesome adventure with some extremely strong champion, like Jax or Garen. Not running around with some girl, heck they might even pair him up with a yordle next, not that there's anything wrong with that, Yordles were okay, they just weren't his cup of tea.

"Can you at least tell who you're pairing me up with?" he asked them with an annoyed tone.

"We were about to tell you anyway." Vessaria said. The old councilor had the look of pity in her eyes, but that doesn't really show much of what she's thinking, she always has that face even when she's angry or happy. "You're going to be paired up with the Fae Sorceress" she announced.

"Lulu? Are you joking!?" Blake had finally lost his temper. That was the last straw, he can pair up with any Yordle, just not with her, because from what he's heard; the sorceress isn't the best person to talk with, much less working together with her. "I'm not going to pair up with her, she's nuts!"

"Have you even met her?" Kiersta replied, keeping a cool face.

"Well …. No … but from what I've heard –"

"It does not do well to heed truth in rumors Blake" Vessaria scolded. "Work together long enough with her, and you might just come to enjoy her company"

"Maybe because I'd go crazy like her" Blake muttered under his breath.

Vessaria let out a tired sigh, "We'll soon find out, because that's the final judgment of the council, you'll be working with her whether you like it or not."

Blake had just about given up arguing with the High councilors. They were good parents to him, but sometimes they can be very annoying. This was one of those days, if anything; he feels that they're even more annoying today than ever.

Surrendering to the Council's judgment, he only had one question left to ask. "And who's this Summoner I'm supposed to be partnering up with?"

"That would be me" said a soft voice behind him. He didn't even notice he appear there, well, since the doors were never closed, he would have never notice her come in the first place. He's never heard of this voice before though, which was weird, he knew almost everybody inside the institute.

Turning around, he saw a girl who was definitely his age, with smooth skin, a beautiful face, dark-black hair and round eyes that looked like the colors were sucked out of spring. She had a slender, fit body, which was no surprise, all Summoners are fit and always in shape. She didn't wear the usual purple/white robes anymore; she probably transformed her clothes already, and instead had a plain white hooded vest on top of a grey long-sleeved shirt. Her skirt reached up to only above her knees, but she had white pants to cover just about most of her legs. That wasn't the most noticeable thing about her though; she carried an intricately-carved short stick at her back, and whatever its purpose though was unknown to Blake.

"I've never seen you around here before; who are you supposed to be?" Blake asked.

The girl frowned at him "How rude! I'm going to be your partner! you could at least show more enthusiasm!"

"Sorry" the boy gave her a mocking smile "I'm Blake, and you are?"

"That's more like it!" said the enthusiastic girl. "My name's Abrielle, it took a damn long time before I got to meet my partner!." The girl offered her hand to Blake.

Blake took her hand grudgingly, and said "Yeah … whatever."


	3. Towards Demacia!

Blake was struggling to keep himself optimistic today. It could have been worse, he might not have been permitted into challenger, he might have lost a leg going to the councilor's room, or he might have eaten too much and had some undesirable bowel movement. _'Nothing is ever as bad as it seems, we're going to get through this …. Going to … going to'_ he repeated over and over, trying to keep a straight face. It wasn't so much as the Summoner he had problems with, he could deal with her, even though she looked too overly energetic, what he couldn't take was the champion assigned to them. He starts thinking about how he might get polymorphed by the little yordle as soon as they meet her. _'She won't do that … hopefully' _he thought to himself.

"Are you even listening, Blake?" Vessaria caught his attention.

"Oh, uh … yeah" he replied.

"Well, since we're done here, you're to depart for Demacia immediately, Lulu will be waiting for you there" Vessaria said.

"Great!" Abrielle screamed out loud. "I'm finally going to get to meet her in person!" Her face changed into a puzzled look before she continued on her rant. "Ooh! Do you think I should ask for her autograph?!"

"Do you ever run out of energy?" Blake asked her. From the few minutes that he's know her, she seemed to scream or announce everything she says out loud. On top of it all, she doesn't stop moving, it's like if she stopped moving she would blow up or something. "Can't you sit still for just one second?" he said.

Abrielle gave him a mean look. "Why would I want to do that?" she replied. "Just because everybody else likes standing still doesn't mean I have to as well!" She waved her hands around and did a little jig just to prove her point.

Blake heaved a sigh and muttered under his breath "Whatever."

Kiersta coughed to catch both of their attention. "You'll be given a few hours to get ready, and you'll be seen off by Lee sin come midday. Good luck summoners, we wish you only the best." He said.

"Well, that settles it, bye everyone, see you by midday" Blake announced. He turned and stalked away into one of the hallways that led to his room.

"HEY! WAIT FOR ME!" Abrielle shouted, chasing her new partner.

"What? Your room isn't even this way!"

"And how would you know that!?"

From a distance, Vessaria was staring at them with a gentle smile on her face. "He sure has grown a lot" she said to nobody in particular. "I just hope we made the right choice."

"Acting like a worried mother now, are we, Vessaria?" teased Kiersta. "It won't do you good to worry over him; he can take care of himself." He assured her.

"That's not what I'm worried about" she replied.

The smile on the old councilor's face suddenly transformed into a worried frown. "Well, we've done all that we can, Vessaria" the old man said.

"True, though I still think we could've done more." Vessaria muttered under her breath. Her pitied face replaced with a mask, but the worry in her tone was still eminent.

"We've got more pressing matters than that, it seems." reminded Keirsta.

Vessaria knotted her brows; there has just been too much work lately. She was starting to think that this job was more suited for younger people. It couldn't be helped though; because they were the ones assigned as high councilors, not only for their strength in summoning, but also because their minds were deep and their choices were wise. "Yes, yes. We'd better call over Jarvan, I have a bad feeling about the caverns"

Just then, a summoner in purple robes ran into the councilor's room, almost stumbling with haste. "The councilor … the … the … "said the frightened man. He was shivering all over, like he just saw a ghost.

"Calm down Summoner" Vessaria said. "Take a moment to breathe, and then speak".

The man breathed heavily, and announced "The … the councilor"

"What about him?" Kiersta inquired.

"He's dead."

The walls of the Cavern were black and sleek, wet with muck and green slime. It had the rotten stench of sulfur and was big enough for fifteen people to walk abreast, though whoever wanted to traverse here would have been out of their minds. Throughout walls glowing runes were scattered randomly. These were used to bind and seal whatever was being trapped here, and these runes weren't your ordinary everyday runes, each one took at least a day to make. This was none other than the caverns deep below the Institute of war, where some of the most dangerous beasts were held to do the League's bidding.

Walking alone, on one of these cavernous long halls, was the prophet of the void. He wore a scarf and an open sleeved purple top. His head was covered with a hood and his hands with gloves; all his clothes were covered with magic runes. His eyes glowed a bright blinding purple, and he always had an angry look in his face.

_'Icathia awaits … you must hurry' _a voice echoed inside his head.

"I know … I know" he replied, his voice echoing from the walls.

_'Do not delay, prophet"_ it replied back.

Malzahar stalked through the endless halls, darting his eyes in every direction. You could never tell what these caverns were holding, at times you could walk through here and you wouldn't see a thing, and at other times you couldn't even go 5 meters without encountering a trap or an enemy. Nonetheless, the prophet pressed on with a determined look in his face that showed no signs of fear or doubt. He had a job to do … The Risening was almost at hand.

After what seemed like an eternity of floating through the corridors, he heard a peculiar sound. It sounded like someone … or something was eating. _'Took me long enough' _he thought to himself. He turned into another extension of the hall and reappeared inside a domed room.

There was nothing much to look at over here, just the same old runes and the same slimy walls, nothing different from where he's already been. The only difference here was that there was a strange creature in the middle of the room eating all sorts of sweets and candy. It looked something like a bug, but not any bug that would be seen in this world. It was white, with red eyes and was spewing green muck all around, making a huge mess.

"Kog'maw, it's time to go" Malzahar said.

It didn't do him any good though, the little monster just kept eating his sweets and completely ignored the man.

"Fine then" the prophet said. He summoned small portals and sucked up all the sweets from inside the room, leaving only just one cupcake. Malzahar picked up the cupcake and enticed the little creature with it, tempting the monster to follow him. Kog'maw was bewildered for a few seconds before becoming beady eyed at the sight of the lone cupcake in the prophet's hands. Without hesitation the little monster walked towards him.

Malzahar led the creature back out into the previous corridor. His Job wasn't done just yet, almost … but not quite. He still had one monster left to release from the caverns. It wasn't a long walk from here, but it still felt like an eternity nonetheless.

The end of the hallway opened up into a larger domed room. It looked the same, except that the runes here were glowing more furiously and more intensely. In the center of the room, a huge pillar of light rose up to the domed cieling and bounced off, raining down in trickles of majestic drizzle. This was one of the most potent sealing magic that the summoners had ever invented. It was used to seal away monsters of immense strength and size the likes of which, if ever released and set upon Valoran, would have had catastrophic results.

"It won't be long now, have patience" Malzahar said.

The pillar of light thrummed and thrashed, almost as if whatever was sealed in there was responding to the prophet's voice.

"It'll take a day, so have patience" he said. Closing his eyes, Malzahar sat down and meditated, the runes on his clothes glowed hot and bright. It was about time that he finally got to use the rune's full potential. These weren't only runes and formulas in order to summon powers from the void; its real purpose was to negate powerful sealing magic, given to him back in Icathia.

Malzahar threw the cupcake towards Kog'maw. "Do me a favor and guard the entrance, would you?" he told the little creature.

Kog'maw snatched the cupcake in mid-air. "Obey Void!" screeched the monster in reply as he went off to guard the entrance.

"Now then … let's get you out of there, Cho'gath" Malzahar muttered as the runes on his back began to come alive and surround him. One by one the floating runes struck at the pillar, bouncing off of it and striking once again. You wouldn't be able to notice it immediately, but if you could feel the magic from the pillar, you would have felt it weakening.

Blake was lying down on the bed in his room inside the institute. A bed, desk and mirror were littered throughout his room. There was a closet in the corner where he usually kept all his robes. There weren't any windows in the room either, though even if there were any windows there still wouldn't be much of anything to see, because these parts of the dorms were underground.

He had already managed to transform his clothes into something that suited his taste. He now wore a long open white jacket over his grey shirt. He had loose pants on for more mobility and it was held up by a leather belt. This was actually the first time he'd worn anything aside from those plain old robes, though he wasn't looking forward to wearing them again anytime soon.

He was definitely going to miss this place, now that he'd be going out to do a lot of other things, he won't be able to come back to the institute more often. Most likely he'd be living on the go with his two partners (the thought of working with Lulu still made him shudder).

There was a knock on the door and he heard the voice of what was unmistakably the blind monk. "Time to go Blake" he said.

He got up and approached the door. At the last moment Blake turned around and heaved a heavy sigh, taking in for the last time this room where he spent so much of his life living in. He might go back here someday, but that someday may still be far off. It didn't matter anymore though, he was about to enter the life of a challenger, nothing should have been able to make his heart grow heavy like this, so why did he have this nagging feeling inside that's telling him he won't be able to come back here again?

It must have just been some bad feeling, he thought to himself. He shoved the emotions of fear and doubt away, turned around and opened the door.

In front of him was a man with tanned-muscled skin that had a lot of tattoos. He was bald, save for some tied up hair that looked like a pony-tail pine tree sticking up from his scalp. His eyes … well, you couldn't really tell what his eyes looked like, the monk always covered them using a red cloth with a green crystal in the middle.

This was none other than the lee Sin, the blind monk. From what he's heard, this guy used to be an aspiring summoner until he somehow screwed it up, and now he works for the league as a champion in the fields of justice.

"Let's go, Blake" the blind monk said as he turned to face one of the hallways.

"Nice to meet you too, Lee"

They traversed through numerous halls, and headed straight for the women's dormitory. Blake would bet all his gold that Abrielle was in here somewhere, which was fairly obvious enough though.

The girl's dorms were much like the guy's, the only difference would have been the sounds of the women and the sweet smells of sweet perfumes mixing together. But other than those, it looked much the same as everything else.

They finally found her at the edge of the hall with some other summoner. "Time to go" Lee sin told her. Blake was wondering more and more if this guy was capable of talkininnmore than two sentences.

"Whimsical! Let's get going then!" she uttered out loud. She proceeded to lug the champion towards the end of the hall, completely forgetting her friend.

Blake approached the girl and asked "She does that often?"

She looked like she almost pitied him, but she didn't say anything other than "You'll get used to it" before walking away back towards her room. He stood there alone for a few seconds before running towards the blind monk and Abrielle to catch up to them. "Hey, wait up!" he shouted.

They weren't in the mood for listening to him though, because Abrielle was telling Lee Sin some sort of tale about when she was using him in the Summoner's Rift.

"Oh I remember that part!" the girl screamed. "It's a little hard working with you though, since you don't have any eyes." She commented.

Blake was sure that must have offended the Monk, but he did nothing other than give a grunt and a hint of a smile before replying "There are more senses worth using other than the eyes, child"

"Really? Well … for you maybe! But I can't imagine being blind" she replied.

"One gets used to it"

Blake sulked at the back of the group then. He was totally out of place, and he was really amazed at how this girl could warm up to so many people so quickly. She wasn't getting any closer to warming up to him though. And he didn't think she was going to warm up to him any time soon.

They exited through the back doors of the institute. In front of them were endless plains of green and grey. The rolling hills stretched out as far as the eyes could see, all the way towards the black and blue spikes of a mountain range which the people usually called "The great barrier".

"So, how long will it take to reach Demacia?" Blake asked.

The blind monk tilted his head, pondering the question. "Four or Five days if we go by foot, but I plan to reach it by two" the monk answered.

"Only two days? Cool! Are we going to fly or something?!" Abrielle inquired, her eyes gleaming with extreme anticipation.

"No," Lee sin pointed towards a black machine. "We're going to go by train."

"So we're going to hitch a ride?" Blake tried to clear up.

"Yes, we are"

"You're coming with us?"

"Something wrong?" the monk said.

"Awesome! Wait … why?" Abrielle said.

"I've got something to do in Demacia, now, I assume you know how to use Ghost?" Lee Sin asked them.

"Of course! We wouldn't be challenger if we didn't know how to use that!" Abrielle exclaimed.

"I meant using it on yourselves"

Abrielle gave him an annoyed face, a face the monk would obviously not notice. "Well of course we know how to do that!" she retorted.

"Allright then" Lee Sin said calmly. "You guys use ghost and flash into the inside of the vehicle. "

"What about you?" Blake Interrupted.

"Trust me" was his only reply.

Moments later, the three of them were darting across the country side at an incredible speed, cutting through the wind like sharp razor blades. Each step they took was one step closer to whatever lay ahead, and another step away from everything they've ever known, as they approached the train, closer and closer until they finally got a good look at the contraption.

It was sleek black, and moved at an outstanding pace. It must have been new technology from Zaun, usually, trains were only used as a last resort because researchers couldn't find a way to make it move fast enough, though with this kind of breakthrough, it could be the next best thing for transportation, aside from teleportation of course.

The first person to get in was the blind monk, he might have lost the use of his senses, but Blake thought that when worse comes to worst, Lee sin would be capable of handling that unfavorable situation even more than him and his new partner combined.

The next person inside was his partner, her flash technique was spot on, and she managed to land at the center of the cart with a big bow. "Thank you! Thank you!" she shouted to nobody in particular.

And finally, it was Blakes turn. He arched his back and prepared to propel himself, blinking at the last second and reappearing directly inside the cart.

Once they were all settled inside the cart, Blake wanted to break the ice with his new companions, but he didn't know what to talk to them about. Naturally, he asked the first thing that came to his mind: "So this is headed for Demacia?"

"We wouldn't be here if it didn't now would we?" The monk teased.

At that moment, Blake thought that it would be impossible to get along with this champion, or maybe was just the type of champion that didn't want to get along well with other people, he's surely met enough of those in the institute.

At one corner, his new partner had curled up into a ball, hugging herself as she let her dreams overtake her reality. '_Looks like she does run out of energy'_ Blake thought to himself. Well there was no use using up anymore energy now, so he did what everybody else was doing: he sat down and rested, for all he knew, the adventure ahead of him would be extremely tiring.

And so the three of them sat in silence, waiting for when the train will eventually take them through the Marshes of Kaladoun and straight for Demacia.


	4. An unforseen tragedy

Vessaria stalked through the institute's halls, beside her, Kiersta was fidgeting with his robes and looked very much nervous. "You seriously can't still be nervous about the caverns after all this time" Vessaria scolded, keeping a straight face. The old man had never been comfortable inside the dark caverns below the institute of war for whatever reason only he knew.

"It just makes me … uncomfortable" he replied, choosing his words carefully.

"Well, you don't have to be that nervous yet, we're still waiting for Jarvan" Vessaria tried to ease his thoughts.

"It seems so" replied the old man, obviously not buying into her words.

She couldn't understand why this old man was so uncomfortable every time they neared the caverns. It's almost like he has bad memories of the place, though even if he did, there wasn't much to be frightened of when you're one of the best Summoners around the realm. Vessaria won't let whatever's happening to her fellow councilor affect her she told herself, though she didn't think it would anytime soon.

"He sure is taking his time" Kiersta said.

"Yes, well, I do hope they didn't plan to get here by foot." She joked.

Apparently the old man didn't get it though, because all he replied was "Yes … yes … truly." His mind was obviously elsewhere.

Vessaria told him "That was a joke, you know."

"Yes well … you were never one for jokes, councilor" Kiersta said flatly.

The woman finally gave up trying to cheer the old councilor up; he could become annoyingly thick sometimes, especially when he was nervous.

They wandered through the halls, waiting an eternity for the prince to show up. Vessaria didn't think that preparations for teleporting would have taken this long. What was so hard about teleporting? Sure, it takes up a lot of magic energy so you could only use it a few times a day, not to mention it costs quite a lot to make one. But even then, it doesn't take this long for a platform to teleport people, the prince must be very busy, she thought to herself.

"There they are" Kiersta announced.

Sure enough, ahead of them were two figures. Jarvan IV wore golden plate armor, intricately detailed with spikes on his shoulders. His lance was the same as ever, a long and deadly weapon used for slicing, piercing and breaking objects and people.

Next to him was a slender woman with green skin covered in armor of red and gold. She had claw-likegauntlets twice the size of her hands. Her helmet had some kind of tail behind it, which was probably her hair tied up. This was none other than Shyvana, the half dragon that Jarvan had invited into elite guard.

"Took you long enough" Vessaria scolded.

"Pardon us councilor, we had other matters to take care of before we could go." explained the prince.

"Well, no matter, let's get going." Vessaria made a gesture for them to follow her as she made a move for one of the halls.

"Was it really necessary for us to be here?" Shyvana asked. "You have a ton of summoners here and a good number of champions already, surely all that must be enough." She continued.

"I'm afraid this isn't something that we can handle alone" replied the councilor.

"Oh?" Shyvanna gave a sly smile "I thought the Institute was full of strong people"

"What? Too scared to enter the caverns Shyv?" Vessaria teased back.

"What – okay listen here you old hag –"

"Enough" interrupted Jarvan. "Now, if you would kindly tell us the situation councilor."

Vessaria told them all about their dead councilor and the bad omens they've been having about the cavern.

"So all of this is based off of some kind of hunch?" Shyvana asked.

"Well … yes" replied Kiersta, which was a miracle that he talked at all. He looked like he was about to pass out. "Besides, the Chronokeeper is rarely wrong" he continued.

"So this was Zilean's idea" commented Jarvan. His face looked like he was in deep thought.

The old Chronokeeper wasn't the best person to talk to due to his Chrono-displasia, but if he's in the mood, and that's very rare, he might give you a hint of the future. It's either that or he'll just ramble on about his past or some prophecy that won't happen for the next century or so.

"Yes, he rarely gives any hints to the future, so we thought we couldn't let this pass" Kiersta said.

Jarvan's face was masked in confusion "What if he's wrong then?" he asked.

"Then we would have nothing to fear, and both of you would go on your way back to Demacia." Vessaria commented. "It's quite busy there at this time of year I presume?"

"Oh, yes" Jarvan confirmed.

Tomorrow was the start of one of the only few Demacian festivals. The festival celebrates the endless prosperity the Lightshields give to their city state in the form of a grand deluxe party that all its citizens can participate in. The best part about the celebration was that it lasted for five days, and during those five days were all sorts of events that anybody in the city would be able to participate in, like a tournament, or if that wasn't your taste, there was always the traditional games like "Whack a Noxian" and the Demacian races.

A five day festival comes with its downsides though. Those who would be in charge of managing the whole event would have their hair turn white from the stress, unless you were used to managing a five-day city-scale event. It was a miracle that Jarvan and Shyvana even had any time to go and help here in the institute.

"We're here" Vessaria announced.

You couldn't tell how old the gate was, if you would have had to guess, the only thing you could say would have been that it was really, really ancient. The gates into the caverns consisted of a slab of rock that blocked the entrance. The rock was carved with various runes and sigils that were used for sealing, though the runes didn't glow anymore, which meant that somebody had already broken the barrier.

"Well, this can't be good" commented Kiersta.

Vessaria went up to the slab of rock and pressed her hand against the gate. "No, it can't be" she muttered under her breath. These were one of the most powerful seals inside the institute, how long has it been broken?

"It couldn't have been broken just recently" Jarvan commented, seeming to have read what was going on in the councilor's head.

"No, it can't, but it was." She replied.

"Only a powerful mage could have done that." Kiersta added.

"Well, we don't have any time to lose" Vessara said. She waved her hands over the slab and it floated upwards, blending into the rock above and revealing a hidden path behind the doors. The entrance was dark and ominous; it reeked with the stench of sulfur, which wasn't anything close at all to inviting.

Without hesitating, both councilors stepped forward and made a move for the entrance to the caverns. "Well, come along then" Vessaria invited the two champions.

They walked through the dark caverns, the runes on the sides glowed and thrived with power. "Well, it's good to see that not all the seals are broken" Kiersta muttered under his breath.

"Not nervous anymore councilor?" asked Vessaria.

"It wouldn't do me any good down here now would it?" he replied.

"Does it always smell like this down here?" Shyvana asked, covering up her nose.

"You'd best get used to it, we're going to be in here for a while." Kiersta told the half-dragon.

"You're joking right?" Shyvana complained.

Jarvan couldn't see anything, but he was almost sure that Vessaria was surpressing a smile. They couldn't see much of anything else though, and the only light inside the caverns were the glowing runes, which didn't really do much to light up the area.

Finally, Jarvan couldn't resist. "A little dark in here isn't it?" he said.

"Oh, right, I'm sorry." Vessaria apologized. She held up her hand in the darkness and summoned an orb of light, illuminating the paved pathway ahead of them.

"So, we're really going to look over the whole area?" Kiersta asked his fellow councilor.

"No, that would take forever" she replied.

Shyvana had a puzzled look on her face, "So, we're going to look through a few corridors and leave?" she asked.

"Well … sort of" Vessaria replied, being as vague as always.

Shyvana's temper flared from that comment. "Spit it out old hag!" she said "We don't have time to go through some prison cell for monsters! We have a party to plan!"

Jarvan let out a silent sigh. For a fire breathing half-dragon like Shyvana, you'd think that she'd be so strict and serious. That was Jarvan's first impression of her when they set out to help her kill the dragon that murdered her father. It was only when she had her first Demacian festival that the prince found this new side of her. He was very much surprised to find out that the dragon loved parties, the bigger and longer they were the happier and more cheerful the woman became. Shyvana just had a short temper whenever she was interrupted in the middle of either planning or enjoying the festivities.

"You're quite the hot-headed dragon, now aren't you?" commented Vessaria.

"You picking a fight with me human?" she taunted.

Keeping a cool face, the councilor replied "You'd do well to watch your tongue around me Shyvana."

"I think that's enough from the both of you" Kiersta said.

They walked in silence for a long time, hours must have already passed by since they entered the caverns, and it looked like they weren't going to stop anywhere any time soon.

"How deep are we going?" Jarvan asked.

"As deep as we need to" replied Vessaria.

Shyvana's temper flared "Are all the high councilors like this?" she mockingly asked.

"If you would just wait and see, you'll find out eventually"

"Well why not tell us now!?" Shyvana complained.

Vessaria gave a restless sigh, apparently giving up on holding more information. "We're going to visit the void cages, we fear those are the one being targeted by our unknown assailants." She said.

Shyvana crossed her arms timidly and replied "Now was that really so hard to tell us?"

"Yes" the old woman said.

Vessaria wouldn't admit it to anybody, not even herself, but she loved teasing and toying with the impatient half-dragon. She was like a five year old, always complaining about everything and asking lots of questions, two of the things that annoy the high councilor the most.

They finally stopped at a part of the hallways where there was an opening to the right, which led off into an empty circular room.

"We're here" Vessaria announced as she entered the empty room.

"Was there supposed to be anything valuable here?" Shyvana asked.

"This is where we locked up Kog'maw" Kiersta said astounded.

"Maybe he wandered off somewhere" the half-dragon suggested, "The place doesn't really look like it's guarded anyway."

The expressions on the councilor's faces signified that they were more than worried about the lack of a slimy green monster in the room.

"There were mountains of sweets here before" Vessaria said in an astounded tone.

"What? You had cup-cakes and cookies for guards? No wonder he got away" Shyvana mockingly told them.

Vessaria had no time to quarrel with the woman now though. They had a more pressing problem on their hands, and if what she'd guessed was correct, then they would be trying to release "him" next.

With a sense of alarm in her voice, the old woman shouted "Come on! We must hurry" before darting off on her own into the main hallway.

"For an old woman she sure is energetic, can you run like that old man?" Shyvana asked Kiersta.

Kiersta gave the woman a warm smile and said "You'd be surprised how at much magic could help an old man once you get to this age, young one"

The old councilor closed his eyes and concentrated. His feet shone a shimmering blue and floated him off the ground. "Well, come on then" he told the two champions before dashing off to follow his companion.

Jarvan stepped up and said "With haste Shyvana" before running off to follow the old man.

All four of them ran at a steady pace, heading for one of the darkest chambers inside the institute. Their destination from afar looked like an exit because of all the flashing lights.

"I sense enemies" Kiersta commented.

"Lots of them" Vessaria confirmed.

"How about we summon twenty each?" Kiersta suggested.

"Twenty" his fellow councilor agreed.

"What are you talking about?" Shyvana asked, trying to keep up with the councilors.

The Councilor's eyes glowed blue with magic and emanated through the whole hall. Their bodies shone a bright aura before it moved upward in the blink of an eye and hit the ceiling with a loud crack. The radiant blue energy trickled down and soundlessly hit the floor, forming vague blue figures that surrounded all of them.

Once the blue glow receded, there were forty sets of heavily armed warriors accompanying them. They had blue plate mail and heavy steel swords, their faces were covered by a flat steel helm, so you couldn't see what they looked like. Despite all their heavy armor, they kept up with all four of them without even breaking a sweat.

Shyvana gave a quizzical look then commented "I have to admit I'm impressed"

In front of them was the opening to the chamber that held one of the deadliest beasts that ever came from the void. There was no door, so you could already see what was up ahead. The monster was sealed by a huge pillar of light in the middle of the chamber, right in front of it was a shady figure surrounded with runes that were attacking the magic barrier that kept the monster in place.

They don't have to worry about that yet, though, because right in front of them was a swarm of bug looking creatures with four green hungry looking eyes and wickedly sharp blades for hands. All of them standing together side by side, forming what looked like a barrier meant to keep away anyone who might want to intervene. At the head of the force, Kog'maw stood there looking as hungry as ever.

"Those aresome pretty high level voidlings" commented Kiersta.

"Malzahar summoned them" Vessaria said through her gritted teeth. "We have to stop him from releasing Cho'gath at all costs!"

"We have to get through that first" Jarvan said, pointing at the huge force ahead of them.

"That should Easy enough" Shyvana said with a smile.

Vessaria gave a silent grunt "For once I actually agree with you" she said.

"Enough of the chit-chat then!" Shyana said, almost tasting the heat of the battle to come. "Let's go!" the half dragon shouted just before she charged the opposing force. Jarvan and the others followed, their forty warriors trundling right behind them, a huge mass of animated bodies thundering through the hallway to meet eliminate their foes.

Kog'maw was trying to pick off as many of them as it could, shooting green muck all around with utmost precision. The little monster took down three of their men before the two opposing forces crashed against each other with a resounding clash of steel-on-steel.

The summoners were doing well to hold their own, Vessaria was dodging blade after blade while igniting the bug-looking creatures, burning them all into ashes. One of them almost caught her, but she summoned a barrier and deflected the enemy onslaught. The monster barely had any time to react before getting pummeled by an invisible force.

Kiersta was working together with Jarvan, taking down their enemies one by one. The old councilor didn't even seem to be getting hit; he was just standing there with blades passing through his body. The enemies were so distracted with killing the old councilor that they forgot about the heavily armored prince that bashed them all with his lance.

Though for every enemy that they take down, Kog'maw brings down two of their own. The little beast was shooting green muck everywhere, boring holes through their armors like it wasmade out of paper.

"We'll hold them off!" Jarvan shouted as he took down two more voidlings. "You go ahead and stop Malzahar!"

"Shyvana with me!" Vessaria shouted. She darted through two voidlings and shattered another one with a magical fisted blue glove on her right hand.

Three more voidlings tried to block her way, trying to form an impenetrable wall. "Shyvanna, over here!" the woman shouted.

A moment later the side of the hallway erupted with a blazing flame, throwing ally and voidling alike into the air. The heat was almost unimaginable; it was like wearing a fur coat inside a volcano during summer.

It worked though, the path for them was clear and devoid of any foe, at least … for the time being. "Good job" Vessaria complimented the woman.

"Don't let it get to your head" Shyvana replied. "Let's finish this."

In front of them, the pillar of light almost looked like it was about to break. The drizzle of magical force from the seal was slowly fading away, and the glow from it was getting weaker and weaker by the second.

"Malzahar!" shouted the high councilor. "What is the meaning of this!?"

The prophet of the void stood up and turned around. His face was covered with weird purple marks that glowed with power. "Aren't you getting a little too old for this job?" Malzahar told her.

Vessaria didn't answer the prophet's questions; instead she charged him, her hands glowed a bright blue light. Her punch only hit air, though, because Malzahar teleported to the other side of the room, laughingly mocking the old councilor.

"Your age is doing you no good Vessaria, you've finally lost your touch" he teased her.

Shyvana spammed fireballs at where Malzahar stood, completely destroying the wall behind him with a barrage of flaming projectiles. The prophet dodged those as if he were calmly taking a stroll through some garden. The man opened his fist and summoned a portal on both sides of Vessaria, which let out a gush of purple force that knocked the old woman off her feet.

The pillar of light finally gave with a forceful explosion that knocked everybody to the ground and shook the hallways. That domed roof gave in and exploited the surface above, which were the lower libraries of the Institute of war. Everywhere you'd look books were falling everywhere in huge piles, and all of those were hard-bound, get hit by any of those and it would hurt for a long time, especially if you're unlucky enough to get hit by one of the bookshelves.

Where the seal once was now stood an ominous and gigantic figure, with long spiked talons along its back and haunting green eyes. Its exoskeleton was an eerie blood-red and its roar resounded throughout the halls with bloodlust in its wake. Cho'gath stood there furious and hungry for blood, and it was already looking for its next full course meal of two high councilors, a prince and a half-dragon.

"Shyvana!" screamed Jarvan. Behind him, Kiersta was fighting fiercely with Kog'maw, neither side backing down.

"Not good" Kiersta shouted. "Added together to all the magic we've expended, that might have been enough to break all the other seals!"

"We don't have time to worry about that now! I'm taking on that thing!" Shyvana announced.

The half-dragon grew larger and larger with each passing second, her hands turning into black talons and her face elongating into a beast's with extremely sharp teeth. She grew wings and dropped to all fours, her breath grew hot and heavy as she roared in reply to the now equally large monster before her. Suddenly, there were two raging beasts inside the now seemingly small room.

Cho'gath let out a roar and tried to bite the dragon, but she replied with a howling flame from her maw. The beast roared in anger as spikes shot up behind Shyvana, her dragon-scales just barely being able to deflect the onslaught.

Vessaria stood up, ready to go another round with the prophet. "You won't get me this time!" she vowed to Malzahar.

The prophet glow a devilish purple, his lips turning into an evil grin as he slowly said "I … wouldn't … be too sure … about that …"

A purple blast of energy engulfed Vessaria. Malzahar laughed at her mockingly as he heard her howl in pain "YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE IN THE COUNCIL, OLD WOMAN." He shouted with pure glee. The prophet shot into the air and dived downwards just as quickly, purple flames were dancing in his hands as he got ready for the killing blow. He braced for the impact, and immediately got caught off guard by a lance that shot out from his right, piercing his ribs and throwing him across the room.

Jarvan was standing beside the fallen body of Vessaria in the opening; the intense heat that could be seen in the depths of the prince's eyes would be enough to intimidate a bear into submission. "I order you to stop, Malzahar" the prince told him calmly.

The prophet took hold of the lance still stuck in his ribs, and pulled it out, blood splattered against the marble floors as he let the Prince's lance fall clattering to the ground. "Try and make me, little prince" he retorted as he jumped up and onto the back of Cho'gath. Malzahar made a quick gesture with his hands and a dark purple vortex shot up into the sky, disorienting the dragon-Shyvanna just in time for the two of them to escape into their newly made hole.

Jarvan looked around and tried to assess the battlefield before them. Most of the voidlings had either been already tied up or destroyed, and Kog'maw was nowhere to be seen, obviously Kiersta had somehow overpowered the little monster.

Kiersta stood alone at the entrance into the huge cavern where Cho'gath was once held. He had a lot of grime on his face, mixed in with his own sweat, and his black robes reeked of muck from fighting with Kog'maw. But he was fine nonetheless.

"They don't call you high councilors for nothing." Jarvan commented.

"This is not the time for idle chat, Jarvan, you need to go after Malzahar" Kiersta told him with that strong tone of authority in his voice. The old councilor looked otherwise unshaken from the battle that took place.

"Allright, you take care of Vessaria and find a way out" Jarvan told him.

"I would worry about myself if I were you"

"Well … all right" Jarvan told the old man. The prince turned around to face Shyvanna, who was still in dragon form across the room. He strode across the now empty space, picked up his lance and went straight over to Shyvanna.

"Hey … uh, I need a lift" Jarvan told her.

The dragon lowered her head, inviting the Prince of Demacia to climb onto her neck. "Thanks" Jarvan said as he braced himself for the ride.

With incredible speed, they shot up the hole that Malzahar had made. This was the first time that Jarvan realized just how deep the caverns were, between those empty halls and the surface, there was nothing but rock, gravel, mud and earth all over for the next fifteen minutes before they finally surfaced and shot up into the night sky.

Suddenly, Jarvan had the urge to stay back below in the caverns.

Just below them was a scene of extreme carnage and blood. All over, summoners were screeching and running away from the gigantic monster that had seemed to spawn in the middle of the institute. The giant monster was eating summoners left and right, completely swallowing them whole.

Where the institute used to stand now lay the barren and bloody ruins of death and chaos. All the other champions that were imprisoned from inside the institute somehow managed to break free from their cells and were now wreaking havoc along with the prophet and his giant pet. Brand, the burning vengeance was burning people to a crisp, causing explosions everywhere he went. Renekton sliced and diced through objects and people while Nocturn caused a superb amount of paranoia.

The Institute was not without retaliation, though, as some of the other Champions who resided inside its walls were recovering from the surprise and were now retaliating against the enemy force. Nasus caught up with his brother and were now trying to get the better of each other, swirling sands and water erupting like geysers from their surroundings. Xerath and Ryze were going toe to toe with Nocturne, but it was all they could do to keep from being feared and distracted by Fiddlesticks. Though with Kayle and the others being away, it was all they could do to keep their enemies at bay.

"We have to help them!" Jarvan shouted against the howling wind.

Shyvanna roared deafeningly towards the horizon before nose-diving downward onto Cho'gath. She let out a vortex of flam which engulfed the monster's right side. Cho'gath answered with an equally deafening howl, putting out the flames from the maw of the dragon-Shyvanna and forcing her backward, making her lose altitude and crash onto the ground. Jarvan got tge worst of the crash, getting tossed a few meters farther away into a pillar.

The dragon went up on all-fours once again and charged at the equally large beast. She scratched at his body, but only managed to rake the hard exo-skeleton of the monster. Cho'gath once again stomped his feet on the ground and formed a crater of spikes where Shyvanna stood, this time, the spikes managed to pierce her dragon scales, blood splattered on the ground as Shyvanna howled with pain.

Jarvan regained his consciousness and soon rejoined the battle, aiming for where Malzahar was toying with two summoners. Jarvan darted as quickly as possible towards the void prophet, his lance ready to strike.

Malzahar noticed the young prince even while he was far off, the prophet clasped his hands together and summoned a circle of pure void energy just in front of him. Jarvan anticipated this move though, as he sidestepped gracefully, circled around Malzahar's trap and lunged at him. The prophet dodged every thrust and parried every blow using magic.

"Is this the best you can do my prince?!" taunted the Prophet.

This only managed to further enrage the prince, as he jumped high into the air and smashed downward, causing a huge crater to erupt and summon a cage of sharp rocks which trapped them both inside.

"Nowhere to hide now Malzahar" Jarvan told him.

"Oh, I don't think I need to run anymore" he replied.

Once again, Jarvan charged at the prophet with extreme ferocity. His lance held up high and mighty against the dark night sky. Screaming he went, unwavering at his powerful foe.

"Quite impatient of you, Jarvan" Malzahar muttered.

The prophet's eyes glow a light blue, blinding purple light covered his whole body. Malzahar quickly raised high into the air; his penetrating gaze never once left Jarvan. A ray of blinding purple light hit the prince square on the chest, completely immobilizing him and rendering him quite useless against the Prophet.

"Quite a nice try my young prince, though your impatience will be your undoing" echoed the voice of Malzahar. "Here's a little parting gift" he continued.

From the right shoulder of the prince spawned a small voidling, much like the ones you would see Malzahar using in the fields of justice. Though this one looked rather odd than his normal voidling, it had blood-red eyes and was glowing a bright purple, its teeth looked extremely sharp. The little thing pranced around Jarvan's shoulder waiting for its master's command.

"Bite" Malzahar ordered.

The voidling quickly drove into action, it went over to the back of Javan's neck, where his armor was weakest. It opened its maw for a bite, and plunged it's mouth down towards his neck. Jarvan screamed in pain as the voidling bit deeper and deeper into his neck, the little monster thrumming like some alien heartbeat.

Just as quick as the voidling bit him, it let go at the same quick pace. The little creature jumped down onto the floor and returned to its master. The sharp rocks that entrapped them both crumbled into dust as Jarvan hit the ground with a loud thud.

The clash of steel and the buzzing thrum of magic seemed to die down as Shyvanna turned her dragon head towards where Jarvan and Malzahar were fighting. Her heart had done a somersault when she saw the prince of Demacia lying on the ground, bruised, bloodied and worst of all … unmoving.

Without hesitation, the young dragon broke free from her engagement with Cho'gath, turned back into human form and sprinted as fast as she could towards where the body of Jarvan was lyring face-first in the dust. The huge beast would have gone after her if there wasn't so much food in the area to keep the monster busy. The seemingly one-sided battle now seemed extremely distant to her as she approached the prince slowly, kneeling down and hugging his face close to her body.

"What have you done with him!" demanded the half-dragon.

Malzahar gruesomely smiled and replied, "Not much, just put him to sleep with this fella, that's all". He patted his little voidling like it was his favourite pet. "I'd suggest you run away now, before things get ugly" continued the prophet.

Shyvanna risked a glance at her surroundings, whatever was left of the surprised summoners were now running away into different directions. Even the champions were witnessing one sided fights, there was something strange in the air preventing them from getting the upper hand, she could almost sense it, was it dark magic? Not that it should matter right now … she had to get Jarvan out of here.

Transforming back into her dragon form, she lifted up Jarvan using her maw and shot up into the sky. The wind whipped furiously against her wings as she beat them to the thrum of her heart, propelling them towards the horizon. Shyvanna adjusted her course and made for Demacia. She found it strange that Malzahar didn't even try to stop them, was that man still capable of giving mercy? She had thought that the prophet had lost his humanity ages ago back in Icathia.

The sun finally rose, showing the first signs of dawn. Shyvanna had to get the prince back to Demacia, how she was going to go about doing that she did not know. Her mana had almost run out and she was growing extremely tired from being in dragon form. If worse had finally come to worst, they might have to walk all the way back to Demacia. She seriously doubted that she would be able to lug Jarvan's lifeless body when she herself felt like she was about to collapse, he hoped that the prince would wake up soon.

Looking at the brighter side, at least they were now safe: away from the ruins of the Institute of war, and out of danger from Malzahar and the other voidborn. Not like those summoners who were unlucky enough to get eaten or burnt, and definitely not like the champions who were still fighting that hopeless battle. And unlike the high councilors … who were probably still trapped down the caverns. She wondered if both of them would make it out, surely there was some secret exit inside the caverns that led to somewhere safe.

She didn't have time to dwell much on what happened on the Institute right now though, she had to return the prince safely back to Demacia and report on what happened to the institute. The institute's destruction was only the first of many casualties, she thought.

And it only gets worse from here.


	5. The Kaladoun Marshes

Blake couldn't sleep; he was too busy marveling at the outside world as the train passed the vast and beautiful land by. The lush green lands, the tall grass that covered the marshes seemed so alien to him that he couldn't help but glare as the sun hit the morning dew and reflected upon the blades of grass like a thousand otherworldly stars. The smell of wet earth and wild flowers wafted through the cart, surrounding all of them with exotic smells. The sounds of birds chirping and wildlife waking as a new day dawned gave off a feeling of complete ecstasy. It was only here that the fact of his promotion and the reality of possibly spending his whole life with his new partners had dawned on him. Even a day after they had set out on their journey, he could still feel his heart jump from the excitement.

And yet, there was still this nagging feeling right at the back of his head that kept on telling him in his own voice that he has let go of everything he had ever owned. His whole past life seemed like another world compared to this beautiful stretch of marshes before him. His old bedroom, he wouldn't be using that musty place anymore. His constant matches in the fields of justice were now replaced with real-life circumstances, and in real life: you don't respawn.

Blake looked over to where Abrielle was curled up in a corner. His partner seemed to have come over her excitement from yesterday; he remembered how she shouted everything she said. Her sleeping form made her look peaceful and tranquil, the complete opposite of what his first impression of her was. He was starting to believe that spending time with her and Lulu would actually be bearable, though if there's one thing that he's sure of, it's that he'll have his friend's back if they were ever in trouble.

Woah, did he just think of them as his friends? When did that happen?

Looking back, Blake suddenly realized he couldn't recall a girl around his age named Abrielle inside the institute of war. If he could remember correctly, everybody in the Institute was older than him by at least five to seven years. Since when was there a girl the same age as him in the institute?

He completely dismissed the question in a heartbeat though, the institute was a big place, he was bound not to know a few of the other summoners, especially the female ones. He had never really been close to the female summoners, or the opposite sex in general. Except for maybe Vessaria, but she was like a mother to him so she didn't count.

Blake could still remember the first day he had met Vessaria when she was new to the institute. They had this serious misunderstanding about the other being an intruder inside the institute, which technically was Blake's fault, but he'd never admit it. He could still remember Vessaria chasing him around the institute, hurling fireballs and trying to transform him into a turtle. He was still young then, and had only started to learn the basics of summoner spells, yet he didn't feel any fear and was actually laughing at the new councilor who was trying to catch him.

It was all fun and games until Kiersta tried to put a stop to Vessaria's rampage. The old councilor managed to get in between him and Vessaria, which, looking back, had probably been a poor decision. Vessaria ended up searing kiersta's head bald before calming down. Blake can't help but laugh every time he remembers that event.

"Are you still up Blake?" Lee sin said.

He was startled by the sudden voice that pierced the air, they had travelled in silence the whole night that he had gotten used to the silence.

"Yeah" he replied "What's up?"

He looked over at the blind monk beside him, he looked extremely peaceful leaning against the wall like that. With his eyes always covered up by that red cloth, you couldn't tell if he was sleeping or if he was awake, which is another reason why he was startled.

"I heard from Vessaria that you've been inside the Institute your whole life"

"Yeah, well … that's true enough" answered Blake.

He was never allowed to leave the Institute unlike the other summoners. During winter break they could choose to stay inside the Institute or go back to their families, which wasn't really much of a choice since he really had no family outside of the institute. He was never allowed on the special errand missions as well, it was almost like he was locked up inside the institute with nothing to do but train … and train … and train.

"So how do you feel about being outside?" asked the blind monk.

"The view is awesome." Blake said instantly.

"Yes, well … you'd be surprised how beautiful Valoran is, especially at dawn"

Blake instantly felt a pang of guilt rushing up inside of him. He didn't even think at all about the blind monk's lack of sight when he said the view was great. It must have reminded him of how beautiful the world was when he could still see.

"I'm sorry" Blake said.

Lee sin let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like a suppressed laugh. "You don't have to feel sorry for anything Blake" The blind monk said, patting him on the shoulder, trying to comfort him. "Beauty lies not within what one can see, but what one can feel. Which is never comprehended with the use of sight" he continued.

"I don't get it" Blake said, looking at the blind monk.

"Well, you'll figure it all out soon" Lee sin said. He looked out onto the horizon where the sun was raining down beautiful shafts of sunlight all over the marshes. Looking at him then, Blake was almost convinced that the Blind monk had found something extraordinary when he had lost the use of his sight, something that couldn't be easily discovered without having gone through so much anguish. Blake just hoped that this 'figuring it all out' the monk was talking about didn't include him losing his eyes.

They trailed off into silence once again, Lee sin still staring at the horizon, like he was reminiscing his past, Blake once again reserved to his own thoughts, and Abrielle still asleep in her corner.

That girl seriously uses up too much energy that she sleeps through the whole night and half the morning, thought Blake. He could relate though, shouting and running around so much would have knocked him out for at least half a day, but if this girl was seriously planning on doing this all the time, then they wouldn't be able to go very far in terms of doing missions. He could just picture himself lugging her body everywhere they went, unless Lulu had some sort of magic to make her float.

He was less worried about meeting Lulu now; Blake liked to think that he had finally come to terms being partnered with a half-crazed champion and an over energetic girl. After all he'd been through, trying to get out of the institute and all, he sure wasn't going to let the two of them spoil all his hard work.

The sun had risen up high into the sky and the temperature soared noticeably. Blake estimated the time at about three hours before noon, they've been travelling by train for about a day and a half already, but Demacia was still nowhere to be found.

"We're close, just a little more" Lee sin said, almost like he read his mind.

"Wish it were closer though" Blake muttered in reply.

"You're not the most patient of people are you?" the blind monk observed. "That may come and haunt you in the future, Blake, you'd best be careful".

"Oh, I'll be careful when the time comes" Blake said with a mischievous grin on his face. "Besides, I've been waiting my whole life, it's natural to be a little impatient" he continued.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to wait just a little more." uttered the blind monk.

"I'd actually be more patient if we had some food" Blake hugged his stomach "I'm starving" he said.

Lee sin smiled and brought out a silk red bag "Well, good thing I hd prepared some snacks" he said, holding up the food in front of Blake.

Blake's eyes widened at the little bag of cloth "You brought food? Where'd you hide it? I didn't see you holding anything before" he said, completely astounded.

"My pants have pockets" was the monk's only reply.

"Yeah, right, like I'm buying that" said Blake doubtfully. The Blind monk didn't wear any shirt, and whatever else he did wear didn't look like they had pockets.

"Do you want the food or not?"

"All right, all right" he said.

Lee sin unlaced the tip of the silk fabric and took out a small box. "You'd have to excuse me, I wasn't planning on going to Demacia and had to prepare in such short notice, the food might not be enough for the three of us" he said.

"Well that's all right, as long as I get to eat something, I'm absolutely starved" was Blake's only reply. In truth, he really didn't care how much he ate, his stomach was aching so much that at this point, anything would do as long as it's edible.

The blind monk took the lid off to reveal an assortment of sausages, crackers and a whole lot of other treats. "Feel free to dig in, let's just leave some for your partner later" he said.

Blake took out a cracker and munched it down, his eyes grew wide as he witnessed the taste of his snack. "This is delicious" he commented.

"Why thank you, I made this myself"

"You can cook?" said a bewildered Blake. He could get used to the monk being able to walk around and interact with everyone like he could see them. But he didn't think that he would be able to cook.

Lee sin cocked his head and asked "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Well … you know" Blake said, not sure how he would explain it to him. "You're … blind and all, so … you know …" he gestured with his hands like Lee sin was already supposed to get the point, his face flushed with embarrassment for asking such a rude question.

"How can I cook? Is that what you wanted to know?"

Blake nodded.

Grinning, Lee replied "Well, come back when you're blind, then I'll teach you"

"Hey, not fair!" replied Blake, munching on a few more crackers and a sausage "It might come in handy for me someday!"

"Cooking without your eyes?" inquired the monk.

Blake swallowed down a sausage and said "No, doing things without my eyes in general"

Lee gave a moment to think about it, his head tilted to one side, considering Blake's proposal "I've never had many students before" he said "But I suppose I could teach you when you're free"

"Awesome" said Blake as he reached out for another cookie.

"HEY YOU'RE EATING WITHOUT MEEE!" screeched a girl's voice.

Both of them looked toward where Abrielle was sleeping only a little while ago. Her arms were crossed and her face was pouting, and she totally did not look like she just woke up. "At least save me some!" she said.

"We planned to" Lee sin said, gesturing right beside him "care to join us for a meal?"

Her angry face quickly turned into a playful smile before she walked up and sat right beside Lee sin. She looked at the food and made an astonished face "This looks delicious!" she said.

"Try tasting it, you won't be disappointed" Blake replied.

Her hands quickly made a move for five crackers and two sausages, immediately stuffing them inside her mouth with glee.

"Woah, slow down Abreille" said Blake

"Huh? Why?" she asked.

"Well, I wouldn't want you to choke"

She grinned and then said "Worried about your teammate? Don't worry! A few crackers won't be enough to kill- hic!"

"Yeah, well, it takes new crackers down your throat to give you hiccups" Blake replied.

Abrielle gestured excessively like she was drowning "Water – hic! Plea – Please! Hic!"

Lee suppressed a smile, Blake could tell that he was trying his hardest not to laugh "Sorry, that's one thing I forgot to bring, we don't have any water." He said.

"Oh –hic! Great" Abrielle said.

"Don't worry, once we get to Demacia you'll have all the water you could get" Lee told her.

Blake watched them both as they hit off a conversation that started from breakfast and somehow ended up with coal and rabbits, he didn't know why, but he found it extremely funny, especially whenever Abrielle got interrupted by her hiccups.

Their silent demeanor for the previous day and a half had finally been broken. Blake was worried that they'd become too noisy, someone would eventually find them there and throw them out. Of course if they told him they were summoners he'd have to let them stay … probably, Blake didn't want to take any chances though.

Abrielle was just in the middle of talking about some embarrassing match from before she got promoted when she stopped abruptly.

"What's the matter?" Blake asked.

"Did you feel that?" She said.

"Felt what?"

Abrielle stood up and touched one of the walls, "It felt as if the cart rumbled" she said.

"We probably hit a large rock, it's nothing" Lee assured her.

"No I don't think that was a rock" Abrielle announced. Her face looked more serious than normal; Blake was almost convinced that something was wrong.

"Look, it's probably just your imagination" Blake said, assuring himself more than her. "For all we know it could have been –- "

_BOOOOM!_

The cart rattled furiously as the shockwave of an extremely large explosion echoed throughout the marshes. Blake looked outside, but he could see no sign of where the blow could have come from. "I don't see anything" he told his companions.

"I don't think the explosion was in the marshes" Abrielle said. "It might have come from the train."

"Bandits" Blake asked.

Lee sin stood up, his face stern "I'll go check it out."


End file.
